by Reed, Zoe
Curious as to why my partner wasn’t going into class with the bell a second away from ringing, I stood near the door and watched as he talked with the other student. Before I knew it I was watching him carefully pull a small medicine bottle a quarter full of pills out of his backpack and hand it to the other guy, who in exchange pulled what looked like more than just a couple hundred dollar bills out of his pocket. Feeling like I was doing something wrong just watching the exchange, I shiftily glanced around, wondering how no one else had seen it.
While I looked around nervously, my partner stopped on his way through the door and looked at me, chuckling to himself as I was just standing there; I must have looked like an idiot. “Hey Kyla, are you coming in?”
I smiled nervously and nodded, hoping he wouldn’t catch on that I’d seen his dealings. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
He motioned for me to go on first and so I entered the classroom as he followed me to our lab table. Sitting down we each pulled out our lab manuals and opened them to the page number that was written on the board. Without needing any instruction from our teacher, since the equipment was set out on our table for us, we started the experiment. We had done a simple experiment the day before and although we hadn’t talked much, my partner, Jonathan, seemed to know what he was doing. So today I followed his lead. The most help I could offer anyway was handing him instruments and occasionally measuring out a liquid.
“Did you go to the dentist today?” Jonathan asked as he carefully mixed two liquids that he’d poured into a beaker.
I nodded, adjusting the goggles that tightly hugged my face and made me self-conscious about the red lines I’d have at the end of the period. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
He laughed and shrugged. “You smell minty, like toothpaste.” Slightly embarrassed that the smell was that strong, I let out an awkward chuckle. “I thought most people wanted to get that out of the way before the school year started.”
I nodded. I could tell that even though he was focusing most of his attention on the experiment, he was doing his best to make conversation with me, so I decided to give a detailed explanation. “I would’ve, but I actually moved here the day before school started.”
“From Texas?” As Jonathan asked he pointed to a lighter, silently asking me to hand it to him. Even though he wasn’t looking at me he must have sensed my surprise at his correct guess, because after he lit the burner he looked up at me. The look dropped over my entire body, and ended with a smile as his gaze lingered at my eyes. Knowing what the look meant I tried to smile without giving him the wrong idea, but quickly broke eye contact and looked down at my paper until he answered. “I’ve been around. My family moves a lot, so I’m pretty good with accents. I actually just moved here too, a few weeks ago.”
“How come you move around a lot?” I asked. Despite not wanting him to mistake my curiosity for a deeper interest, his politeness made me wonder, and something about his natural charisma seemed familiar. While it wasn’t an overwhelming familiarity, if I looked hard into his eyes, something there sparked the feeling of acquaintance.
“Army brat,” Jonathan told me matter-of-factly as he jotted down a measurement and pushed his paper toward me so I could copy the information. “Last place I was in was Colorado. It’s not too bad moving around, you get to learn a lot and meet a lot of new people.”
Until this point, the way Jonathan spoke so casually and coolly had made me forget that I’d seen him dealing drugs. Having finally remembered, a spark of unease was reinstated in the pit of my stomach. I assumed being an army brat couldn’t be easy, so he’d just learned how to survive in his own way. Regardless, however, the thought made me uncomfortable, and for the rest of the period it took a tremendous effort to make small talk with him as normally as I could.
It seemed that I’d been doing a good job of not letting on, because Jonathan talked normally the whole time. He left the room a little into the period, as I’d noticed he did every time he was here, for a bathroom break and returned a few minutes later. Whether it was truly a bathroom break or a mid-class drug deal, I feared to speculate.
Around the middle of the period I got a text from Camille inviting me to have lunch with her and her siblings, so when the bell rang at the end of class I said goodbye to Jonathan and excitedly started my walk to the cafeteria. As I passed my locker on the way there I stopped, suddenly feeling that I smelled like chemistry chemicals and toothpaste. So I opened my locker and sprayed on my favorite tropical perfume, giving it a few extra sprays, before continuing on my way to the cafeteria. After going through the lunch line and grabbing my food I scanned the area until I found Camille already sitting with Luna and Niko.
“Hey!” Camille greeted me happily as I arrived next to the table, and pulled a chair next to her out so I could sit down.
I grinned and took the seat as I set my tray of food down on the table. “Hi. Hey Luna, hi Niko.”
They both smiled hello and continued to dig in to their food as if they were starving, making me want to do the same. I took a big bite of my tuna sandwich and voraciously chewed so I could start to fill my growling stomach.
“You smell good,” Camille pointed out as she also took a bite of food.
“Thanks,” I grinned; glad I’d chosen to spray myself with perfume. “It’s called Hawaiian Paradise, it’s my favorite.”
“I like it.” She smiled right back and then looked at her siblings, who both nodded in agreement, with Luna adding an extra eye-roll at her. Catching the roll I looked at Camille, who busily focused on her food, almost as if she was nervous. We’d been getting along so well though that it didn’t make much sense to me why Camille should be nervous, so I just assumed she was worried her siblings would embarrass her. Not a far-fetched assumption considering Luna’s quirky personality.
As each of us ate we grew silent, our main concern the food on each of our plates. With my tuna sandwich gone and slowing down as I worked on my chips, I looked around the cafeteria. For the first time I noticed how many boys there were wearing what looked like the school’s football jersey, and a spark of excitement made my lips curl into a hopeful smile.
“Is there a football game tonight?” I asked. Camille, Luna and Niko all looked at me confusedly, like they had no clue what I was talking about.
Camille was the first to respond with an unconcerned shrug. “I have no idea.”
My jaw dropped at her complete lack of interest. “Haven’t you ever been to a school football game?” She shook her head no, and I looked to Luna who also shook her head, and then to Niko, who actually nodded. “See, Niko’s been!”
“Niko just goes for the cheerleaders,” Camille told me, receiving a punch in the arm from her brother. After a moment of realizing that I was still struggling to absorb the horrible information, she asked, “Am I supposed to have been to a football game?” An amused smile spread across her lips at my obvious horror.
“I can’t sit here, I don’t even know you people.” I pretended to get up, but when Camille scoffed and called my bluff with an indifferent shrug, I chuckled and sat back down. I was exaggerating my shock of course. After catching Camille up on Disney movies it was no surprise that the deprived blonde had never been to a football game, but I was genuinely disappointed she had absolutely no school spirit. “Have you ever been to any sports game?” Camille shook her head again. “A dance?” Another shake and I let out a defeated sigh. The way Camille was looking at me made me feel like an alien, like showing interest in high school sports was the strangest thing they’d ever heard. “Oh Lord, Camille, that’s it, I know your secret.”
I watched Camille and her siblings look at each other and wondered what the nervous glances were for, but pushed the curiosity aside as after another second Camille looked back at me. “What’s that?”
“That you were born in cave!” The exclamation came out in utter exasperation as I wearily threw up my hands, and Camille let out a loud laugh.
“Yeah, you figured me o
ut,” she admitted, still chuckling.
Despite laughing at my joke, her cheeks flushed with a tint of embarrassment. The red tint gave me the impression that I’d struck a chord, and the nervous glances confirmed there was in fact a secret to know, but I’d figure it out eventually. At the moment I had other things to worry about. Such as Camille never having been to a football game.
I grew excited as I realized that since I’d helped catch Camille up on her childhood with Disney movies, I could help catch her up on her teenage years. “If there’s a game tonight will you go with me?” She looked at her brother and sister, probably trying to think of an excuse, and when she looked back at me her face was scrunched with rejection. But I wouldn’t take no for an answer, and without a definite decline I knew I was already halfway to getting her to go with me. “Please.” I put on my best pouting face and batted my eyes at the sympathetic blonde. “I’ll pick you up, and pay and everything.” Her strength to resist was starting to deteriorate as the tiniest of smiles cracked her lips. “I’ll get on my knees and beg if I have to!”
“You don’t have to.” Camille finally grinned and laughed, sighing with defeat. “I’ll go.”
My smile spread from ear to ear and I almost cheered with excitement. When I lived in Texas I’d gone to every one of my high school’s football games, and not just because Aaron was on the team. I genuinely enjoyed watching, not to mention the socializing with whomever I went with. In this case, that someone just so happened to be Camille.
I sat on my bed reading through my history textbook while I waited patiently for Kyla to pick me up. There was in fact a football game tonight, and while I was excited about spending time with her, I couldn’t say so much about watching the game. Though, I’d had the same low expectations for all those Disney movies and had actually ended up liking them, so maybe I’d enjoy the football game.
Without bothering to knock, Luna opened my bedroom door, and after closing it she plopped down cross-legged on my bed, starting her question before she’d even sat down. “So you’re going with Kyla tonight?” I closed my textbook and nodded as I set it aside to talk to her. “Are you nervous?”
With a shrug I let out a sigh and wrapped my arms around my pulled up knees. “I’m not nervous really about hanging out with her. I don’t know.” I took in a deep, thoughtful breath as my eyes scanned the bed. “I don’t know what it is, but something about her makes me feel so weak. So powerless.”
“She seems pretty normal to me,” Luna teased and received a playful shove. “She’s cool, but you barely know her.”
The way Luna’s voice trailed off at the end of her sentence made me look at her concernedly. “What are you trying to say? Do you know something?”
She laughed at the paranoid tone to my questions and shook her head. “No, and I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with her. It’s just that you’ve always been so careful with your feelings and about trusting people, probably more than any of us.” With a pause she glanced around the room, thinking about what to say. “You just met her, and she is human. I just don’t want either of you to get hurt.”
“I know.” I nodded, turning the corner of my mouth down thoughtfully. “I’m wrong for her, and I know it.”
“That’s not what I was trying to say,” Luna said slowly, though I could see the agreement in her eyes.
“You don’t need to say it.” As much as I hated to admit it, I knew it was true. There was a reason werewolves tried to avoid humans. “It’s like, I know I should just walk away, but I can’t. More than that, I don’t want to. Even though I know I should.”
Luna studied me for a minute, and the way she looked almost made me feel like I was doing something wrong. Though it was far from common, werewolves weren’t forbidden from being with humans. And I knew nobody would really protest, other than telling me to be careful. Still, it was a dangerous combination that rarely worked, most often because either the werewolf didn’t have enough control over their instincts or because the human couldn’t handle knowing once they’d been let in on the secret. That kind of relationship was always shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty. Even the way I felt Luna looking at me now was full of doubt.
“Tell me it’s going to be okay,” I said, begging for the disapproving look to leave Luna’s eyes. “If I keep doing this, if I try to be with her, tell me I’m not going to screw up her life.”
At the pleading tone of my voice, the look disappeared, and Luna’s lips turned up in a smile. “Of course you won’t. She’d be the luckiest girl alive to have you.” She pushed me playfully, and then her eyes gained a teasing glow. “But, you know being a werewolf isn’t even your biggest problem right now?”
I raised a curious eyebrow, wondering how on earth I could have a bigger problem than that. “Really? Then what’s my biggest problem?”
“Seriously?” Luna asked like she was surprised I didn’t know what she was talking about. “You’re a girl. You don’t even know if you could get Kyla to like you.”
I grabbed one of my pillows and buried my face in it with a groan. “Don’t remind me.”
“Leave it to you to fall for a straight girl.” She laughed teasingly and hopped off the bed to glance out the window. “Your ride’s here.”
Just as Luna made that statement my cell phone buzzed on the nightstand. I picked it up and read the text from Kyla that said she was outside, and excitedly grabbed my jacket off the back of my desk chair. Before passing Luna to leave my room I stopped, taking a deep breath and sighing before I gave my sister a nervous smile that reflected the butterflies I was starting to feel.
“There’re the nerves!” Luna snickered and shook her head sarcastically. “Have fun.”
With that I headed for the front door. Once I opened the passenger side to Kyla’s truck, she turned down the radio and grinned hello. “You ready to watch some all-American football?” she asked excitedly, backing out of the drive once I got in.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I couldn’t be less excited about watching a football game, but the fact that Kyla was in such a good mood made me smile relentlessly. I’d already even forgotten about the hard truth of my conversation with Luna.
“Were you just kidding me? Or have you really never been to a football game?” Kyla took her eyes off the road long enough to give me a suspicious but playful glare, and then returned her gaze out the windshield.
I crossed my finger over my heart as I’d seen her do once before. “Cross my heart, hope to die, I’ve never been.”
She seemed satisfied, because she nodded and turned up the radio. I stared as discreetly as I could as she bobbed her head and sang every line of the song that was on. Watching the beautiful girl enjoy every minute without restraint gave me a giddy feeling I couldn’t remember ever having. There was a certain light-heartedness about Kyla that made me feel like I really was a teenager, that made me forget about any and every worry, and made me feel almost human.
The brunette stopped bobbing her head and looked over to me in the passenger seat, smiling shyly when she noticed I was staring at her. I thought she was too embarrassed and was going to stop or turn down the radio, but without warning the drum beat picked up and Kyla vigorously shook her head, hair flying in every direction before she started bobbing her whole body. That succeeded in completely loosening me up, and I laughed and couldn’t stop grinning as I started dancing along. As I threw my arms out and snapped along I saw Kyla look over and laugh, nodding her approval. I’d been following my instincts my whole life, the ones that told me to be careful around humans and to watch everything I did and said, but in that moment with the girl I was quickly falling in love with, I threw my instincts out the window and gave way to impulse.
We went crazy in the car, laughing at each others’ outrageous dance moves until we pulled into the near packed high school parking lot a few minutes later. It took Kyla a minute to go through the aisles and find a spot, but once she did she pulled in and shut off the car. “Okay Camille, prepare
to have your mind blown.”
“Give it your best shot,” I challenged with a sly smirk.
I followed Kyla’s lead and got out of the car. Once we started walking toward the football field I was surprised that she knew what to do and where to go after only being at the school for a few days. The girl must have had a football radar or something. Reaching the field across the street from the school, we followed the spirited blue and white to our section of the bleachers and sat down near the middle of the field in the first row.
“Oh good, no one’s scored yet,” Kyla said happily as she took note that the game had started a few minutes before we’d arrived.
I nodded and studied the players on the field. It was obvious that the blue and white was my school’s team, and that the red and dark blue on the opposite side of the field was the other team. Aside from common knowledge that the players had to get the ball to the other side, however, I had no idea what was going on. Afraid to ask Kyla for fear of sounding like I really was born in a cave, I sat next to the cheering girl and followed the ball with my eyes, pretending to know what was happening.
As I watched, the guy with the ball ran up the field until a player from our team got in front of him and tackled him to the ground. The audible ‘oomph’ of the player with the ball hitting the ground caused me to let out a chuckle of amusement. It was no wonder Niko had wanted to play football, and also no wonder why he hadn’t been allowed to. If he ever hit someone like that he’d break more than a few of their bones.
It took about ten minutes into the quarter for Kyla to realize that I wasn’t cheering, and she grew silent as she followed my gaze. “Are you watching the cheerleaders?” she teased, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I earnestly shook my head. “You aren’t cheering. You are looking at the cheerleaders, aren’t you?”
